Wicked London

Our last full day was spent in London.  There is no way to see it all in one day, but we did our best.  I have also included our Wicked pictures in this blog even though we did this on our first day.

Before we went to Wicked we found a Pub across the street from the Apollo Victoria Theater.  It was perfect, we ate traditional food and because we had a window seat we could watch all the Londoners going about their business.  I must say, Bailey and I commented a couple of times on the blasts of color that scream from some of the clothing styles there.  They are bold and secure in their boldness!  Our traditional meal consisted of "bangers and mash" which is sausages and mashed potatoes.  I read that the sausages got their name bangers from war time.  They were filled with water to make the meat go longer and therefore would explode when they were fried.

I went for the fish and chips.  I'm glad I did, I have always wanted to try British fish and chips.  My stomach loved it, then reminded me how much it loved it all night long.  Felt like a brick but totally worth it.

Wicked was even better than we imagined.  Such a great twist on the Wizard of Oz and I love how they took the "underdog/bad witch" and gave perspective of why they act (or pretend to act) the way they do.  For the rest of their lives, whenever Bailey and McKenna think of Wicked, they will think "toss, toss" and sing the song Popular. 

Before the show we bought the kids show treats.  Um, you can buy a bucket of candy . . . literally.  The Frandsen's now have included in their tight circle of favorite treats: fizzy cherries.  Mark is going back to the UK in July and these are on his list.  We scrambled the night before we flew out to find some, but by the time we got to our hotel the groceries were closed.  The gas station let us down, no fizzy cherries to be had.

Bailey, eating out of her candy bucket.  Don't think for a minute that my wardrobe choice was by chance.  It was totally on purpose!!

Whispering to Elphaba, probably telling her that she really likes her monkeys and that she would be her friend even if no one else would.  Also, pretty pretty please sing Defying Gravity until the day you die, it is that good, even if Glee did cheapen it.

So onto our day in London.  We decided the best way to see London is from the traditional red open top bus.  Good in theory, but big red buses do not get the right of way, they have to wait in line with everyone else.  It worked for us, McKenna took a big long nap, we were rewarded with a happy 7 year old for the rest of the day.

Look kids, It's Big Ben.  Look kids, "It's Big Ben again".  We drove that traffic circle from Chevy Chase's scene in "European Vacation" but our bus driver knew how to get out.  On the first try!

Here is the back of Westminister Abby.  One thing that surprised me about London is that they charge admission for EVERYTHING.  And not a respectful 2-3 euro for cathedral update and such.  Try a whopping 12-16 POUNDS per site.  Dear London, I'm not impressed by that or by your obscene dollar to pound exchange rate.  I will forgive you because Westminister is lovely and I'm enamored with your royalty.

The girls and I in front of the statue dedicated to Queen Victoria.  This is right outside of Buckingham Palace where the changing of the guard takes place.  No, we didn't see that.  Frandsens are no longer fond of European crowds.

Buckingham Palace, waiting for our names to be called to visit the Queen.  Someone didn't get that memo.

We took a side tour into Harrod's.  That place is a whole different shopping experience on a whole different level.  The bottom level is groceries, but like famous groceries.  You are lucky to be buying their famous groceries and you better honor that luck.  Beautiful displays though.  Bailey and I got a kick out of the Barbie section (the whole toy section is just like going to kid heaven, only the largest kid heaven that you can think of).  Here is Prince Edward and his new bride and luckily they were put on a higher shelf than Bride Bella and Groom Edward.  At least they have their priorities right in the Barbie section.  And a shout out to Harrod's for putting the Hannah Montana barbie on the lowest shelf, right'o!

 

I loved the reminder all over the city of where traffic was coming from.  Look left, look left, look right. Or was it that I just loved that the reminder was in English . . .